Flames
by CordsCool
Summary: Harry's sixth year starts with a bang as a mysterious girl comes to collect him. Who is she and what does does she have to do with the mystery unravelling before Harry?
1. Rescue

A/N – This is a story that I have co written with Varyssa before I had registered on this site. I didn't have the confidence to write so Varyssa would write with me – the first seven of these chapters are what we wrote together but now I feel I can write by myself so after chapter 8 this fic is totally from my mind!

From this story you can expect love, sarcasm and of course a new threat from Voldemort and what is Snape hiding?

Takes place in Harry's sixth year.

Red Bess Rackham – please bear with me while I get the chapters up and can then continue with the story. I understand why you didn't like Jen as she was being the main focus in the story - I will change that to make it more about Harry and the other main characters.

To Varyssa – You will always be apart of this story – thankyou for giving me confidence to write it alone. x

Chapter 1 – Rescue

The loud rapping of talons against the window woke Harry from another deep sleep racked with horrific nightmares. Sirius was in reach, if he could just get to him in time…but it didn't matter how fast Harry ran, his godfather inevitably fell through the veil, leaving Harry utterly alone in the world. He would never find anyone else to confide in, to talk to, the way he had talked to Sirius.

Reluctantly Harry rose from the warmth of his covers and rushed to the window. Hedwig's rapping was growing louder, if she continued to raise the volume, inevitably the Dursley's would wake and once again, Harry would face their wrath.

Hedwig swooped through the now open window and landed, neatly upon her perch. Not for the first time she had left and returned without any word from Harry's friends or anyone in the wizarding world for that matter. Ron and Hermione had sent their letters early on, but upon receiving no reply from Harry assumed he was still grieving for his loss and thus neither had sent anything further.

Harry stared out of the open window for a moment, feeling the night air brush against his face. The sound of a motorbike forced him to close the window again, no doubt the Dursley's would hold him responsible for their waking, even if it was only partly Harry's fault.

Resigning himself to depression once more, Harry ignored Hedwig who watched him with her wide, yellow eyes, and returned to his bed, trying to return to sleep.

He tossed and turned in his bed, trying to find a position that would grant him sleep, but now that he was awake, he knew it would be hours before his tormented mind found rest. He lay still, replaying the events that had led to his godfather's death over and over in his mind. He could hear someone moving on the landing, one of the Dursley's making their way to the bathroom, no doubt, but even that proved to remind him of the previous year when he'd been rescued by the Order of the Pheonix, ready to take him to his Godfather's house.

Another rap at the window. "Forget it Hedwig," Harry mumbled, closing his eyes, hoping he could fall to sleep. Hedwig hooted from the wrong direction and the rapping continued. Harry looked up, Hedwig was still perched in her cage, nowhere near the window. He snapped his gaze to the window and gasping at what he saw, allowed the bird entry.

A beautiful pheonix flew into the room and flew past Harry. Harry watched in awe as the bird passed him, landing on someone standing in the doorway. Harry snapped his bedside lamp on and snatched his wand up from the cabinet as he faced the intruder.

A young girl, about the same age as him had found her way into his room, closing the door silently behind her. She wore a bright pink top that almost glowed in the darkness, her black jeans allowed her to blend in with the shadows, her dark hair falling about her face, freely. The phoenix rested on her shoulder, both of them staring at Harry, the girl with some amusement.

"You're Harry Potter?" she asked, examining him with her eyes, "Hmmm, I thought you'd be…" she hesitated, "taller?"

"Who the hell are you and what the hell are you doing in my room?" he demanded, raising his wand. The girl eyed the wand with a raised eyebrow,

"We'll skip introductions then shall we?" she muttered, throwing a letter at Harry, without moving from her place at the doorway. Harry didn't pick it up, it bounced off his chest and landed on the floor before him. He refused to move, still aiming his wand at the intruder.

She waited for a moment, but when she realised he had no intention of picking the letter up she rolled her eyes, "Are you going to read it or not?" she demanded, then added, "It's from Dumbledore." Harry eyed her suspiciously, but she just leaned back against the door, waiting for him to read. Keeping his wand fixed on her he bent down and with one hand ripped open the letter. Like she had said, the letter did contain words from the Headmaster's hand and Harry's heart flickered slightly to have some connection from the wizarding world after so long.

'_Harry,_

_There isn't much time so I'll be brief. I fear your life may be in more danger than ever before. Therefore it is my desire that you leave Privet Drive immediately. Jen will return you to Grimmauld Place, you must leave with her straight away,_

Albus Dumbledore'

Harry looked up at the girl, she was examining his tip of a room, a pair of dirty underwear in her hands which she threw aside, disgusted as he finished the short letter.

"Are you Jen?" Harry asked, still keeping his wand pointed at her. She gave a false bow, the phoenix remaining on her shoulder.

"Yes, and like the man said, there isn't much time so I'd appreciate it if you 'd get your stuff and move it out of here. Unless you want to tell your family first?" Harry thought for a moment, the Dursley's hadn't been particularly bothered by the sudden disappearance and reappearance of their nephew last year. Harry lowered his wand and a smirk flickered across the girl's face,

"Good, now get your stuff, I'll be waiting outside. You might want to be quick. It's no skin off my nose if I go back without you, but if you want to stay alive I suggest you come with."

Harry struggled to take all this in, taking an immediate dislike to Jen's brazen attitude, but never-the-less realised he would be leaving with her. She watched him pick up the underwear she had flung aside and smiled, almost.

"Tell Dumbledore, we have the boy who lived…unfortunately," Jen muttered, turning on her heel and leaving as silently as she had entered.

For a moment, Harry seemed rooted to the spot, memories of last year flooding his mind. No contact for ages and then suddenly he's invited to Grimmauld Place. Harry wasted no further time in packing his stuff, he didn't like Jen but she was his only ticket back to where he belonged.

TBC


	2. The Bitch, The Burger and The Bike

Yay! Thankyou for the reviews!

Chapter 2 – The Bitch, The Burger and The Bike

Harry heaved his trunk as silently as he could down the stairs towards the  
door, cursing Jen for not staying to help. His trunk was filled with all  
his Hogwarts equipment as well as the clothes he would need for the rest  
of the holidays, the trunk was less than light.

The front door was unlocked, the handle appeared to have been burnt somehow.  
No doubt Jen had cast some kind of spell to allow herself entry to the Dursley's  
house. Dragging his trunk down the path, hoping the Dursley's were in a  
deep enough sleep to ignore the sound of the case as he dragged it across  
the gravel path, trying to suppress the noise any way he could. His efforts  
to keep the silence were destroyed when Jen shouted from beyond the front  
gate,  
"Potter! When I said we didn't have much time, funnily enough, I meant it!  
Get your ass over here!" Harry froze as her shout, amplified by the silence  
of the sleeping street rang in the air. A light clicked on in the house  
behind him and he had no choice but to break into a run, dragging his trunk  
behind him as Jen continued to watch him, offering no assistance as she  
watched him struggle. She led him around the corner to the side of the street,  
away from view of number four. Harry panted behind her as he tried to keep  
up with her. Finally they rounded the corner and she stopped, allowing him  
to catch his breath.  
"You run like a girl," Jen muttered, fixing her emerald eyes on something  
in the darkness. Harry stopped panting and looked up, indignant,  
"Well you could have helped me?" he said, in disbelief. Jen turned and glared  
at him, fixing him with a piercing stare.  
" Ah no! Manual labour so does not agree with me." Harry groaned and looked  
around, surveying the area, his eyes coming to rest on a motorbike that  
Jen seemed to be drawing herself to.  
"We're riding that?" he asked, in somewhat amazed manner. The motorbike  
was black, blending in with the darkness just as Jen had, though the word  
"Ninja" emblazoned in small writing in an almost luminous pink, clearly  
visible against the dark background.  
"What were you expecting?" she asked, curiously, "a broomstick?" she laughed,  
"that is so five hundred years ago," she patted the bike, fondly, "welcome  
to the 21st century, Potter." Harry watched her as she strapped a black  
helmet streaked with a flame design to her head and taking Harry's trunk,  
lifted it with ease onto the back of the bike where it appeared to fix itself,  
perfectly. Harry wanted to question this, but considering she had come from  
Dumbledore and she would probably have another of her sarcastic quotes waiting  
for him, he thought better of it.  
She sat in the seat and sliding forward to make room for Harry, she handed  
him a pink helmet. Harry glared at her,  
"Its pink," he said. She looked down at it for a moment,  
"Its not pink, it's punk," she said, forcing it onto his head, "and seeing  
as you run like a girl, this completes the outfit."  
Harry gave up trying to argue, convincing himself that nobody would see  
him or recognise him for that matter in a pink helmet, riding on Jens motorbike.  
He slid onto the seat, behind her, trying to figure out where exactly he  
should put his hands. Without giving him nearly enough time, Jen revved  
the bike and they shot off, forcing Harry to throw his arms around her stomach  
to remain seated.  
"Jen!" His protesting shout was lost upon the air as they swerved around  
corners at incredible speeds. They passed the traffic with ease and part  
of Harry's mind was wondering if they were going to survive without getting  
stopped by the police. How the trunk managed to stay attached to the bike  
was a mystery to Harry.

They weren't on the road for that long. The sight of headlights and people  
passing them at immeasurable speeds forced Harry to keep his eyes tightly  
shut, but now the bike slowed and skidded to a halt. Harry felt the thud  
of Jen's boot coming down off the pedal to steady the bike.  
"You can let go of me now," she muttered, unable to move while Harry kept  
his arms wrapped tightly around her abdomen. Harry released her and steadied  
himself as he opened his eyes and looked around.  
Far from the rows of houses that made up Grimmauld Place, Harry was greeted  
by the sight of a luminous yellow sign, glowing through the darkness.  
"What are we doing here?" he asked, "McDonalds"? he read from the door,  
though he knew the sign from advertisements and the bags Dudley brought  
back with him whenever the Dursley's took him out. Jen locked up the bike  
and slipped her helmet off her head, "Dumbledore told me to feed you," she  
said, "and more importantly I fancy a Big Mac." She watched Harry get off  
the bike. When he had turned to face her, she was still looking at him,  
one eyebrow raised.  
"What?" he demanded, looking down on himself to search for a problem.  
"For one who made such a fuss, you've taken to that helmet pretty well,"  
Jen said, keeping her laughter in check. Harry's hands instinctively shot  
up to remove the headgear while Jen just smiled and led him into the restaurant.  
Harry had never seen the interior of the restaurant before. The Dursely's  
never treated him to a meal, they let him finish off Dudley's leftovers,  
if there were any. Harry slipped into a booth as he waited for Jen to return  
with the food. There were a few people scattered through the building, more  
than Harry would have expected for such a late hour. The staff watched him  
and the others with a hatred, no doubt they were hoping for an exceptionally  
quiet shift which meant as little work as possible.

Jen slipped into the seat opposite Harry and swung her legs up onto the  
table, her black, leather boots thudding heavily on the polished surface.  
She started examining her nails and reaching into her pocket she removed  
a small, silver dagger, which to Harry's shock was tinted with red smears.  
The cleaner eyed her suspiciously as she proceeded to pick bits of dirt  
from beneath her long, red-polished nails using the tip of the knife.  
She looked up at Harry who was gazing at her with a kind of subdued horror.  
She shrugged,  
"What?" she demanded, swinging her arm to the side, carelessly. Harry watched  
as the knife scraped against the wood of the booth wall and left a small  
mark. Jen looked back and seeing the damage, hastily stuffed the knife back  
into the pocket and gazed around the restaurant absent-mindedly.  
They sat in silence, broken by her over exaggerated humming of a heavy metal  
ballad. Her hair swinging madly as she sang loudly. Harry watched her with  
an air of disbelief, as she continued to head-bang to her own music. Eventually  
Harry interrupted her song and spoke up,  
"How old are you?" he asked. She held up a finger indicating the one minute  
gesture,  
"Every way the wind blows,bwoooooosh," she finished her enactment of "Bohemian Rhapsody" and turned to Harry, "Pardon?" she asked, having been to engrossed in the imaginary music to hear him properly.  
"Right," Harry muttered, rolling his eyes, "Never mind, so, where...did?"  
Harry struggled to think of a question, "How long have you been driving?"  
he thought again, "It's a nice bike you've got," she smiled, appreciatively,  
"Where did you get it?"  
She hesitated, "It's not like they'll miss it," she protested. Harry's jaw  
dropped, but before he could respond she added, "at least they haven't missed  
it...yet," she shrugged.  
"Why did Dumbledore send you to get me?" he asked, suddenly blurting the  
question that had been nagging at him since he had first read the letter  
from the Hogwarts headmaster, "Why didn't he send someone else from the  
Ord…?" Harry didn't get the chance to finish his sentence as Jen had suddenly kicked him hard beneath the table in a rather violent manner. "Yes," she hissed, quietly but somewhat dangerously to Harry, "just tell  
the whole world who sent me, it's not as if it's some big secret, is it?"  
She sank back, a silence descending upon them once again,  
"I'm a part of it," she muttered, leaving enough silence to confuse any  
eavesdroppers. Harry looked up at her in disbelief,  
"You?" he spat, more bitterly than he had intended and for a moment she  
looked genuinely surprised at his reaction. A wave of jealousy had hit Harry,  
he wanted to be in the Order since he had discovered the nature of it's  
existence. Who better to fight the Dark lord than the one who had defeated  
him on more than one occasion and yet this reckless girl had managed to  
gain entry over him. Harry thought for a moment,  
"Why did the headmaster send you?" he asked, choosing his words carefully  
so they didn't attract attention from whomever may be listening. Jen shrugged,  
"He trusts me," she smiled, she added with a sad afterthought, somewhat  
softer than her normal confident tone, "Family have to trust each other."  
"He's a relation?" Harry asked, confused. Jen jerked out of her trancelike  
state, not expecting her thoughts to be heard.  
" Oh great! The foods here", she gestured happily. Jen munched on her Big Mac, savouring the taste of each bite, where Harry, who had never tasted a proper McDonald's meal before wolfed down what lay before him, ravenous and repressed. She chuckled as she watched him eat and inevitably choke on a chip. She offered him a sip of her coke, he supped it gratefully and smiled up at her.

"Don't think I'm getting all nice on you, Potter," she warned him, catching the look of gratitude he gave her, "I don't think Dumbledore would be happy of I took you back as a corpse." Harry laughed, convinced she liked him more than she let on and carried on wolfing down the food. Jen glanced down at her watch and with a shriek she began taking larger bites out of her burger,

"We're running a bit late," she muttered, through a mouthful of meat. Stuffing the last of her burger into her mouth she tore Harry from the table and led him toward the motorbike. Harry protested in vain, trying desperately to return to his unfinished food. Jen had none of it and forcing him on the bike they shot off.

They weaved in and out of the traffic, causing Harry a great deal of discomfort and made him wish he hadn't eaten his food so quickly. Jen, however, seemed unaffected by the speeds they were reaching and paid no attention to Harry's gagging sounds.

Eventually the bike stopped and they slid off it, Harry immediately took the opportunity to throw up beside the bike. Jen looked down at him in disgust,

"Well, that was a waste of £3.29," she muttered. Harry apologised, making false promises to pay her back, but she dismissed them with a wave of her hand, "Just don't mess the helmet," she warned, sliding her own helmet off and leading Harry up the familiar drive of Grimmauld Place.


	3. Reasoning and Revelations

Oh by the way – I don't own absolutely anything in this story apart from the character Jen and the plotline.

Chapter 3 - Reasoning and Revelations

Harry followed Jen up the path towards the house. He didn't recognize their surroundings as they had come up to the back of the house, but he knew the house very well. Jen slipped the back door open and walked in without even a glance back to see if Harry was following. Harry hesitated at the back door, a wave of emotion washing over him. He was about to go in to Grimmauld Place, Sirius' home…and yet it wasn't Sirius' home. Sirius would never be a part of it again. Harry couldn't dwell on it for long; Jen's hand reached  
out and pulled him harshly through the open door. "Close the damned door, Potter!" she snapped, "It's bloody freezing!" she slammed the door shut after him. Harry studied the room, the kitchen which was nothing like the one he remembered. For a moment Harry thought he was back in the Burrow rather than the home of the Order. The kitchen had been completely taken over by Mrs Weasley's influence.

"What?" Jen demanded, as she threw herself down at the kitchen table, lifting her glamorous shoes onto the tabletop. "Where's Sirius?" he muttered, softly. Jen froze at the table,  
"What did you say?" she asked. Harry looked around the room, trying to find some resemblance to the kitchen he remembered. "You got rid of everything?" he asked, the anger boiling inside of him. Jen looked up at him, trying to figure out what he was getting at.  
"What are you talking about?" she asked, slowly so he could understand her.  
"Sirius!" he roared, making her jump back and lose her balance on her chair. She faltered as she tried to regain composure, "What have you done to his house!" Harry shouted, "You destroyed everything I had left to remember him by!" Jen looked, calmly up at him, footsteps were rushing around above them, alerted by the shouts from the room below.  
"How could you just get rid of him like that? How dare you do-"  
"How dare we!" she screamed, making Harry jump this time, "Sirius wanted us to redecorate! Remember!" Harry backed down as she drew herself up to full height, intimidating him to great effect, the candles on the table flared with her temper, "Don't you ever make the assumption you were the only one here who loved Sirius. Don't you ever think that you are the only one affected by his death. Yes he died and we're still alive. Do you think he wanted us to sit around and cry about him all day every day! He wanted us to move on !"  
"He was my godfather!" Harry tried to shout back, but his voice faltered,  
"And he was like a brother to me!" she snapped back, "He looked after me when nobody else would! He was always there for me! He taught me everything I knew! Don't you ever, EVER say 'we just got rid of him.'"  
"He was the closest thing to family I had!" Harry snapped back, hopelessly.  
"You think you're the only one to lose family to Voldemort?" she whispered, dangerously quiet before turning on her heel and sweeping from the room, almost knocking Dumbledore and Lupin over as they stood, transfixed in the doorway.  
"Jen!" Lupin called after her.  
"WHATEVER!" she shouted back, and Harry could hear the front door slam after her.

Dumbledore sighed heavily and turned to face Harry, who sank in to the chair she had just vacated, stunned into silence.

"Welcome back, Harry," he said, apparently unaffected by the sudden outburst from the teenager. Dumbledore and Lupin took their seats near the boy and were totally prepared for the onslaught of questions that came from his mouth.

"Why am I here?" he asked, immediately. Not that he minded being where he was but he would have liked to know why he should go so long without contact to be suddenly whisked back to the Order…especially after last summer.

"A lot has happened, Harry," Dumbledore began. "Voldemort hasn't made a return per se, but Death Eater activity has increased by a phenomenal amount, it appears he is trying to eliminate all major threats before he makes an official return. The Weasleys have already been forced into hiding, a number of wizarding families have been killed in 'accidents' and we have reason to believe that their next target was you." He remained calm throughout this, rather rehearsed speech. Harry, however was looking up in shock,

"And what has the ministry done?" he demanded. Lupin spoke up, with almost a smug tone,

"The ministry is in chaos. Fudge is still denying any sign of the return of Voldemort, but the signs are so obvious and now with families being killed left right and centre he's having a hard time suppressing all this."

"And yet the public are still blissfully unaware. Life continues as normal," Dumbledore pointed out. Harry sat, rigid, trying to contemplate the magnitude of the events that had occurred while he, had been furious with people for not paying him any attention.

"Why did you send Jen?" Harry asked, suddenly. Dumbledore and Lupin smirked,

"She seemed the best person for the job," Dumbledore said, after much deliberation.

"She doesn't like me, very much," Harry told them, "and what was with that outburst just now?" Lupin shifted, uncomfortably in his seat, Dumbledore's smile faltered,

"She's been…" Dumbledore began but Lupin continued,

"Very feisty of late," he muttered, "She and…Sirius," the name caught in his throat, sounding somewhat choked, "very close. They were like brother and sister." Lupin paused so Dumbledore could continue,

"she was due to start college in the next term, instead she had to leave her old life and join us here for her own protection. Jen is not one to be forced into something and accept it…" Dumbledore's burned with something as he spoke, admiration…or was it pride?

"College?" Harry asked, surprised, "I didn't know the wizarding world had colleges, I thought we stayed on in school?"

"We do," Dumbledore assured him, "But you may have noticed Jen is not a pupil of Hogwarts. As a matter of fact, she is not a pupil at any wizarding school. She preferred to take the muggle way of life…"

"And now, here she is," Lupin declared, "And she hates it. Rescuing you, fighting death eaters…"

"But she's only what…sixteen?" Harry cried, Lupin muttered, 'just' but didn't make any further comment, "You send her to fight death eaters?"

"She's a good fighter," Lupin assured him.

"She's sixteen, she drives a motorbike?"

"Yes we are aware of that," Dumbledore sighed,

"And the bars and the temper and the music and the…"

"Although I must admit," Dumbledore added, interrupting Lupin's slight rant, "Greenday have begun to grow on me." Lupin nodded in agreement, sending Harry into another stage of disbelief, then a thought passed into his mind,

"So…will you be sending me to fight death eaters?" Harry asked, an element of hope crossing into his voice. Dumbledore shook his head, solemnly,

"No, Harry," he said, gently, "Right now you're life is in danger. We will need you to fight, but it will be in your own way, when the time is right. We will need you all," he smiled, his eyes flickering to the doorway. Harry looked up to see Ron and Hermione standing in the doorway, a mixture of expressions as they looked on Harry, "Well," Dumbledore announced, "I better go and drag this granddaughter home".

TBC


	4. OWLS

A/N just like to say YAY! I'm blonde and with a new attitude, well not totally.

Chapter4 – OWLS

Harry sat in a stunned silence as he watched the aged headmaster leave, passing Ron and Hermione. The two watched the headmaster leave and then turning to their friend joined Harry at the table.

"Jen's his granddaughter?" Harry gasped, ignoring his friends' attempts to engage him in the usual idle conversation involving the usual, 'hi how have the holidays been etc etc?' Hermione's nose wrinkled as Lupin answered for them,

"Yes," he said, simply, rising to make a cup of tea for them. Hermione glared at Harry and Ron who had a sudden dazed expression on his face,

"Must we talk about her?" Hermione spat, bitterly. Ron shrugged,

"I swear you're jealous of her or something, Hermione," he muttered, turning to Harry with a smile on his face. Hermione gave Ron a look that would have terrified most men,

"What do I have to be jealous of her, for?" she demanded. Ron sank back into a dreamlike phase as he began,

"Because she's cleverer than you, she's got more attitude and she's a damn sight better looking than you."

Harry looked from Ron and Hermione and back again, he was used to them arguing, but never as intensely as this. Lupin handed them their tea and sat opposite them, supping his own quietly.

"Uh…you two ok?" Harry asked, concerned for his friends. Hermione swung her head to look at Harry, whipping Ron lightly with the ends of her long hair.

"We're fine," she said, almost indignant, "Or at least we would be if lover boy here would stop dreaming about…her."

Ron glared at Hermione,

"Why don't you like her, Hermione? I think she's great," he muttered. Hermione returned the glare,

"Yes, I know you think she's great, you don't shut up about her, but right now I think we should focus on Harry, don't you?" Harry looked up to see Ron and Hermione smile at him,

"Welcome back," Hermione said, happily, all thoughts of Jen banished from her mind. Harry grinned at them, for the first time appreciating how happy he actually was with his friends, back where he belonged.

"So what have you guys been up to?" Harry asked, unlike last year he felt no resentment toward the fact that Ron and Hermione had been living in Grimmauld Place without him. In fact, upon reflection he realized that he probably wouldn't have been able to handle Sirius' absence in his own house. Ron and Hermione shrugged,

"not much, mate," Ron muttered, "Not much happening. You know who's keeping a low profile again now that the ministry knows he's back. The Order's still doing usual order stuff, but we're still not allowed to listen in so we don't actually know what usual order stuff is….you haven't missed much," he added, slightly cautious to Harry's temper which had amplified over the past year. The last time Harry had found out they had been with the Order without him, Harry had exploded and Ron and Hermione were left in no doubt what Harry's feelings on the matter were. Harry shrugged and gave a faint smile but before he could continue with the conversation, a loud voice called over him,

"Harry!" Harry felt himself being swept into the powerful embrace of the motherly Mrs Weasley.

"Uh…hello…Mrs…Weasley," Harry choked.

"I've been so worried about you…so worried," she rambled, "When we heard about the Death Eaters and then…and of course after last…well…never mind…let's not talk about these things, you must be hungry…"

"Actually Dumbledore told Jen to feed me," Harry told her. Mrs Weasley froze and looked down on him,

"Yes I know, but Merlin's beard I didn't actually expect her too," Mrs Weasley cried. Harry shook her head,

"Well…she took me to McDonalds," Harry muttered, then remembering the incident by the bike added, "But given her driving…she needn't have bothered."

"Ah, lesser men than you have been sick after riding with her," Lupin muttered with the air of one who knows.

"Except Ron who just screamed like a little girl," Hermione laughed, "But given that he looked like one anyway…"

Harry raised his eyes to Ron's, "The pink helmet?" he muttered, grimly. Ron nodded slowly,

"Yup."

"It's not pink it's punk," Lupin said, imitating Jen's voice causing Harry and Ron to chuckle despite themselves.

"Leave pink out of it!" Jen's voice called from outside the room. The friends looked up to the door, confused that Jen had spoken when they hadn't heard her return to Grimmauld Place. Harry looked down at table, almost hungrily as Mrs Weasley laid it before him.

"Hey he's already had McDonalds!" Jen shouted, entering the room to see Harry tucking into a plate of food, "You can't still be hungry, Potter," she demanded, slipping into the space opposite Harry, beside Ron and Hermione. Hermione glared at her as she sat between them. She gave Hermione a beaming smile; she seemed to be too happy considering Dumbledore had no doubt dragged her from having a good into the time with, her friends and alcohol. She was followed, not by Dumbledore as Harry had expected but rather a man whom Harry had never seen before.

He was quite tall and had a quirky rugged charm about him. His light blue eyes scanned the room from beneath his short silver locks. To Harry's surprise he wore Muggle clothes rather than wizard robes, unlike the majority of the Order. He gave a warm smile to everyone gathered in the kitchen and pulled up a chair, slipping beside Ron and Jen. From the look on Hermione's face it was clear that she would have preferred him draw up a chair between her and the rebellious teenager.

"Where's Dumbledore?" Mrs Weasley asked, ignoring Jen's protest to the amount of food Harry could down without feeling full. The silver haired man shrugged,

"Something came up so he sent me to pick up Jen," he smiled, affectionately at the girl beside him, who ruffled his hair,

"But of course he had to stay for a drink." Mrs Weasley tutted her disapproval and turned away from the laughing pair.

"Harry, this is Chris," Lupin introduced, realizing suddenly that Harry hadn't been introduced, "he's an Auror." Chris held out his hand to shake Harry's firmly.

"Were you with us last year?" Harry asked, harsher than he intended, he was curious to see if Chris was one of the wizards who the previous year had ignored the attempts of the Order to convince the world Voldemort was back. To Harry's surprise Chris nodded,

"Yeah, but I was doing work abroad for Dumbledore. He wants a network of foreign wizards if he needs them…then I heard about Sirius," Harry's stomach clenched, "so I wanted to be here for Jen." Jen was looking out the window, distantly during all this, and unlike Harry she didn't flinch when Lee mentioned Sirius.

"So!" Mrs Weasley said, loudly making most of them jump. Harry couldn't tell whether she was changing the subject solely for his benefit of him or not, "You're going into Diagon Alley tomorrow," she said, cheerfully. Hermione and Ron nodded in unison so Harry thought it only fair to follow suit even though nobody had bothered to tell him this detail. "And Jen, you and Lee are taking them, right."

Jen choked and spluttered on the drink before her and looked up at Mrs Weasley, quickly,

"What!" she spluttered, "I thought Lupin was…"

" An emergency has arisen in the order so I have to miss it." Lupin spoke calmy

"Fine by me," Chris muttered, carelessly. Jen, however looked furious,

"We had plans!" she protested. Chris put his arms around her to calm her,

"Hey," he said, gently, "It's alright, we can go out some other time, we have a while before you go to Hogwarts."

"What?" Jen snarled, Lee swallowed harshly and then smiled, "I meant them," he muttered looking at Harry, Ron and Hermione, "They're going back to Hogwarts; we'll have time to have a laugh then." Jen eyed him suspiciously and Harry noted that Lupin was holding his breath.

"That's not what you said, but I'll blame the non alcoholic drink you have partaken of," she said, slowly, then she rose from her seat,

"I'm going to bed," she said, taking her leave, giving both Lupin and Lee a hug before going.

"Not a bad idea," Ron yawned, "Come on Harry." Harry nodded and acknowledged how tired he actually was.

Trooping up the stairs behind Ron, he couldn't help but look around the grand hall. Mrs Black's portrait was still covered up, the hall still smelled of the ancient and most honourable house of Black despite the Weasley's attempts to change it to a more modern household. He passed the tapestry which displayed Sirius' ancestry and even though Sirius' name had long been burned off it, Harry felt a pang of loss when he looked at it.

Slipping into bed, Harry let the weariness of the day wash over him and he slipped into a tormented sleep, filled with motorbikes and the loss of a rider.

The following day Harry woke up to the sound of a loud yell through the house

"Californiaaa…CaliforNIAAAA"

"JEN!" a second voice, Harry recognised as Hermione's screamed, "SHUT UP!"

There was silence for a moment, "CAAAAAAAAAL OH WOAH OH, here we come!"

Harry and Ron exchanged glances and they both knew there was no point to them trying to get more sleep. Instead they both got up and dressed in a sleepy silence, before making their way downstairs to the kitchen. Hermione and Lupin were both there; Lupin slumped over the table, Hermione glaring at the door with hatred,

"She loves that show," Lupin yawned. " When Seth and Summer finaly got together she wouldn't stop smiling for weeks". Harry and Ron collapsed into their usual spaces beside each other as another chorus of Phantom Planet rang out.

Jen appeared in the doorway humming the rest of the theme to the OC. With a happy sigh she sat beside Hermione and Harry noticed she had earphones in, leading from a walkman attached to her jean belt. Slipping the earphones out she beamed at the gathering,

"Morning," she said, cheerfully, "Something wrong, Hermione?" she asked, seeing Hermione's contorted face of fury.

"You woke me up," Hermione growled through gritted teeth." Jen looked up at her, innocently,

"But darling, no amount of beauty sleep could cure a face like that."

Hermione glared at her, but said nothing. Ron and Harry both stifled giggles as they went back to their breakfast.

"So," Jen announced, happily, "Are we ready?" The trio looked up at her, still weary and most of all still hungry.

"Ready for what?" Hermione asked, through pursed lips.

"For Diagon Alley duh," Jen muttered, grabbing Harry who was closest to her, "Come on, the car's waiting." Lupin looked up at her, concerned,

"Car?" he asked, "The convertible?"

"Chris', yes," Jen said, cheerfully.

"Chris is driving you?" Lupin asked, "I thought you were going by floo powder?."

"Uh…yeah," Jen muttered, "Now come on," she whined, pulling Harry toward the door.

"But we haven't had breakfast," Ron protested. Jen gave him a sympathetic smile,

"Well grab an apple and get a move on" she said, Harry's collar had now been stretched magnificently as Jen insisted on tugging at it in an attempt to the door. Ron, Hermione and Harry left Lupin and followed Jen out to the front of Grimauld Place where a shiny red convertible was parked. Chris was just stepping out of it, when Jen ushered the trio into it. Chris frowned on them as they slipped into his car.

"Jen, no," he said, firmly. Jen had already slipped into the driving seat much to the horror of the three who had just slipped into the car.

"Can you even drive a car?" Hermione asked, slightly fearful, looking to Harry and Ron for support.

"In theory yes, on paper no," Jen muttered, fiddling with the radio and inserting the key into the ignition at the same time.

"You haven't got a licence?" Hermione shrieked. Jen turned to her,

"Hermione I am as good a driver as anyone else…just because it's illegal and I have no licence and I've totalled three cars in the past year has absolutely nothing to do with it." Harry, who had just slipped into the passenger's seat was beginning to share Hermione's uneasiness. Chris slipped into the back seats, beside Hermione and muttered,

"Remus is going to kill me," he sighed, heavily. Jen smiled back at him,

"I know, but do it for my love."

Jen slipped a pair of stylish and shiny blue shades receiving a snort from Hermione.

"Armani," Jen said, grandly shooting her a smug look, "You like?" But Hermione's response fell upon deafened ears as the car jerked into motion, speeding down the street with the stereo blasting rock music all the way.

"Everybody out!" Jen called as she swerved the car into a parking space, although the car hadn't actually stopped moving yet. The car jolted forward as Jen pulled the handbrake rather abruptly without stopping the engine first, sending the occupants jerking forwards, except Jen who apparently had become unaffected by her dangerous driving.

"Are you alright?" Jen asked, suddenly. It took Harry a moment to realize that the question had been directed at him.

"No, that really hurt my arm," Hermione moaned, rubbing her arm, where the seatbelt had cut into her arm.

"Hnh?" Jen muttered, giving half a glance back, "Whatever, Harry?" she asked, genuinely concerned for his sudden lurch forward. Harry smiled and nodded, restoring her confidence as she flung herself over the door, without bothering to open it.

"Ok," Jen muttered, "What do you need?" she asked. Harry, Ron and Hermione exchanged glances,

"Uh…we haven't had our letters yet," Hermione muttered. Jen looked at her as if the comment was taking a while to register. Chris seemed to be recovering from the journey and was resting against the car, paying no attention to the conversation around him.

"Ah," Jen said, clicking her fingers, "I knew there was something I forgot…" she reached over to the glove compartment and produced the three Hogwarts letters which Harry noticed seemed a lot thicker than usual.

"But these have our OWL results in," Hermione exclaimed. Harry felt his stomach drop, he had forgotten all about the results.

"Yeah," Jen muttered, "and?"

"You expect us to open them in a car park?" Hermione protested.

"Do you want me to take you home?" Jen muttered innocently. Hermione glared at her,

"Hermione, you know you're going to pass anyway," Ron declared, "Pass us the letters, Jen."

The three took the letters and stood looking at them as if they were about to explode. After a long silence where they just stood, staring at the letters, perfectly aware that the results contained would shape their next two years at Hogwarts, as well as their future careers. After the silence had dragged out, long enough for Chris to recover and lean on Jen for support, Jen finally put them out of their misery,

"I swear, if you don't open them now I'll open them for you and broadcast your results over Diagon Alley," she snapped.

"I'll go first," Ron murmured, weakly, slowly tearing the letter open. He slipped a sheet of official looking paper out, Harry could see that alongside the subject and grade was the name and signature of the external marker. Ron skimmed the sheet then made a funny gagging noise in his throat.

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked, "You can't be that bad."

"What did you get?" Harry demanded, the suspense mounting, making him more eager to open his own letter.

"I got…an Outstanding in Divination. Acceptable in Charms and Herbology. Poor in History of Magic…well I wasn't expecting…you know and Excellent in everything else."

"Oh well…that's not bad…is it?" Hermione tried.

"Hey!" Jen shouted, "That's great! Well done Ron!" Jen smiled, sweeping the red head into an embrace.

"You got an O in Divination?" Harry exclaimed, chuffed for his friend, he clapped him on the shoulder, "That's excellent!"

"That means I have to take it next year," he muttered, "and look! Divination is on my booklist! How do they know what subjects I want to do? I haven't even told them yet!"

"It's Hogwarts," Jen muttered, "They know everything," she stared at them with weird eyes that reminded Harry of Professor Trelawney. "They call it being inquisitive and helpful…I call it a conspiracy, they know…"

"Actually your NEWT subjects are based on what subjects you excel at and what was discussed at the careers advice session," Hermione muttered, "I read it in, Hogwarts: A History."

"That was written twenty years ago by someone who had never visited let alone attended Hogwarts and said wizard was a little bit too fond of DragonWeed."

"DragonWeed?" Harry asked.

"Ever wonder where the phrase 'chasing the dragon,' 'puff the magic dragon' or 'weed' comes from?" Jen asked, still wide eyed. Chris looked up suspiciously, trying to hide the roll of tobacco he was making for himself.

"It's just a fag," he assured Harry, catching his eye.

Jen laughed, before looking back at Harry and Ron, Ron still protesting how he was being forced to do a subject he didn't want to do before Hermione ripped the letter from his hands and pointed at the top of the booklist,

'Students are only to purchase books that are relevant to their subject choice at NEWT level, the subject choices will be finalised at the beginning of term.' Hermione's finger moved down the list,

"That's why your list also contains the books for every other subject at NEWT level," she muttered, out of slight annoyance.

"Wow Hermione, doesn't your head hurt from knowing such pointless information?" Jen drawled, "Or did you learn that in Hogwarts: A History?" Chris and Jen laughed, where Ron and Harry tried to stifle a chuckle.

Hermione dismissed the laughter and looked eagerly at her own letter,

"I doubt Professor McGonnagol has taken to putting letter bombs in the booklists, Hermione, go ahead and open it," Jen cried, getting impatient.

Hermione glared at her and ripped open her letter, her face lit up as she started reading,

"Potions O, Charms O, History of Magic O, Herbology O, Transfiguration O," her face frowned as she continued, "Defence against the Dark Arts E, but everyone knows that I'm not as good as Harry at that," she dismissed it with a high pitched, nervous laugh that clearly cut through Jen's ears, "A Study of Ancient Runes E? Hmmm, Arithmancy E? But I…" Hermione leyt out a shriek and dropped her letter,Chris stepping forward to catch her as she fell back, "I don't…no…" she stuttered.

Jen reached down and picked up the letter, "Astrology and Care of Magical Creatures A? 5 Outstandings, 2 Excellents and 2 Acceptables, wow, these are all really good marks, as much as it pains me to say it," Jen muttered, "What's the problem?" Harry and Ron were too, exchanging bemused glances,

"For Hermione to get and A…is very…" Ron began quietly to Jen,

"odd?" Harry suggested,

"Failure!" Hermione shrieked, "I failed!"

"Get a bloody grip!" Jen shouted, slapping her lightly across the face, "I am not putting up with some arrogant swot thinking the world is going to end because she passed her exams! Now Harry open your letter so we can actually GO to Diagon Alley!" Hermione looked up at her in shock, a red mark forming where her hand had connected, before she sank down onto the kerb, muttering in a hopeless manner.

Harry opened his letter, skimmed through it before letting out an audible gasp, before dropping down beside Hermione and staring at the ground.

"Harry?" Ron asked, gently, "It can't be that bad…Harry?" Harry held the letter up for Ron to take, Ron scanned the letter and gasped, "Harry mate?"

Jen snatched the letter, "Wow!" she yelled, "1 Acceptable, 2 Excellents, 5 Outstandings and Outstanding Plus!"

Hermione looked up quickly, fully aware that Harry's grades had surpassed her own.

"Outstanding Plus?" Hermione muttered, somewhat bitterly.

"Yeah!" Jen cried, "I didn't even think they did those anymore! Not after the suicide thing!" she added, solemnly. Harry and Hermione looked up at her, but she merely shrugged their glares off. "Now are we going to get these books or not?"

"What did you get the Outstanding plus in?" Hermione asked, narrowing her eyes, without realizing it.

"Defence against the Dark Arts," Harry mumbled, still shocked beyond belief that his results had been better than Hermione, who could quote textbooks and had the status of a fount of wizarding knowledge.

"Oh for the love of…" Jen snarled, snatching the paper from Harry's hand, "He had an outstanding plus in Defence against the Dark Arts, he had Outstanding in Care of Magical Creatures, Potions, Charms, Transfiguration, Astronomy, Excellent in Herbology and History of Magic and an Acceptable in Divination, NOW," Jen shouted, shoving the paper into Harry's hand, and turning to Hermione cried, "You cheer up, You stand up," she pulled Harry up, but he stumbled bringing their faces agonizingly close to each others for a moment. A slight blush crept into both their faces before Jen regained herself and she turned to Ron, and you…I don't know about you, so you can be indifferent." She turned to Chris, "and you come with me."

Chris shrugged and put the cigarette he had been smoking out, following the teenager up the street, with Ron, Harry and Hermione trailing behind, still in awe about their results. They turned the corner and Harry couldn't help but chuckle as they crossed the threshold into Diagon Alley.

TBC

HA! I have taken the word shiny to a new level!


	5. Love Fool

Chapter 5 – Love Fool

The party entered Diagon Alley, walking slowly, still recovering from the shock of their results.

"Ok!" Jen called, sweeping around to face the trio, with Lee remaining faithfully at her side, "We go to Flourish and Blotts and get the books. Any potions ingredients we will get them from the Apothecary then we will pop to Florean's and get some munchies before we take them to the joke shop and see the twins and eat there and be happy, yes?" she asked, with an almost childlike quality to her voice. Harry, Ron and Hermione exchanged glances, before looking back at Jen.

"Well…" she smiled, "not like you have a choice anyway." She turned and led the way to Flourish and Blotts. As soon as they entered, Jen and Chris vanished in different directions, looking up their own interests. Harry, Ron and Hermione unfurled their booklists,

"So I guess we only buy for the subjects we want to take, right?" Ron asked, uncertainly scanning his list,

"Well I'll get my books," Hermione muttered, "I'll meet you guys in a sec?"

"What are we going to take?" Ron asked, looking at Harry, "We can take 5 right?"

"Uh…Defence against the Dark Arts, Potions, Transfiguration, Charms," Harry muttered trying to recall his career meeting with Professor McGonnagol the year before, "and then I guess I can take one more…that'll be Care of Magical Creatures."

"Yeah…" Ron mumbled, looking down, "I…kinda said I wanted to be an Auror too…but I won't be accepted into Potions, no way. Snape wasn't accepting anyone with less than an outstanding into the class. "Ron sighed, totally disheartened, "There goes my career," he muttered.

"What's that?" Jen who had been, apparently wandering absent-mindedly around the shop, stopped as she passed the boys.

"I wanted to be an Auror," Ron muttered, shifting his weight, "But I only scraped an Acceptable in Potions…Snape would never take me into his class."

"Oh relax," Jen smiled, "Put it down anyways and I'll get you into the class…I'm sure my contacts can pull something off."

Ron looked at her, uneasily before he spoke again, "Are you sure?" he asked, "But what if you can't and I buy the book and I don't get in…"

"Oh come on," Jen protested, "even though I doubt your sanity for wanting to take potions in the first place, I will get you into that class and if not I will pay you for the book and you can buy another one…I've always wanted to see how well a text book burns."

"Hey Jen!" Chris called from somewhere within the relatively quiet store, "I found the book you wanted!"

"Oooooooooh," Jen smiled, mystically, then turning to her friends said in a childish voice, but totally emotionless, turning her eyes up to the heavens, thoughtfully, "I would be an evil queen." She swept off to find Chris, leaving Harry and Ron to glance at each other, confused but willing to dismiss the whole thing as another example of Jen being…Jen.

Harry and Ron agreed to take the same subjects as each other, but it hit Ron hard that he would be unable to take Care of Magical Creatures. Although, Hagrid would undoubtedly let him take the subject regardless of the grade he got, with an Outstanding in Divination (which he still found hard to believe) he was more than expected to take a study of the future. The one thing that lightened his spirits (not by much though) was the fact that the crazy Professor Trelawney had been replaced with the far more interesting Firenze.

It was ironic that although Jen had been complaining about the length of time spent discussing the OWLs results, she took the longest in the book store, returning to her friends long after they had regrouped at the entrance, laden with books.

She appeared a short while later, reading the book Lee had no doubt found for her, 'Evil queens and their helpless minions: a guide to.'

"What's that?" Hermione asked.

"It's a guide to all the sorceresses who went wrong and ended up turning to the dark side of life," Chris muttered, leading them out of the book shop. "For some reason, all the sorceresses who invoke dark powers call themselves 'queens'."

"I would be an evil queen," Jen said, in the same tone as before, sounding like a monotonous six year old. Then laughed playfully.

"What's the difference between a sorceress and a witch?" Harry asked Hermione as the group moved to the ice cream parlour.

"Well, a sorceress is born with her powers," Hermione explained, "They usually use them for good, but then there are those who turn to the dark side and have followers, usually declaring themselves queen of some region, for some reason. Arrogant lot from what I've read."

"Like you then Hermione," Jen called from the front of the group, leaving the parlour with an armful of ice cream sundaes and bolting down the street to get them to Fred and George before they melted.

The others followed to the joke shop, arriving in time to find Fred, George and Jen laughing and eating ice cream.

"This was so nice of you Jen," Fred smiled as Jen climbed up to sit on the counter.

Harry looked around in awe at the joke shop he helped to create. The walls were filled with 'Weasley' approved joke items, they had been working non stop recently and it had definitely paid off. Looking over at Jen, he could see that she was sitting on top of order forms, filled with items to be brought in as well as huge stock to sell off. He noticed that Zonko's in particular had taken an interest in their items.

"What are you looking at, Harry?" Fred called, playfully as he noticed just where Harry's eyes were lingering. He looked up quickly and found himself drawn, instead to Jen's face. She was looking out of the window, watching the shoppers pass by, an oddly thoughtful expression on her face and for a brief moment, to Harry at least, she wasn't the loud, sarcastic Jen he was used to, he could see her thinking, almost contemplating something genuinely important, her face relaxed but concerned, as if she were carrying some great weight on her shoulders.

'_Her eyes look so sad…like she's trying to figure something out…woah_!' Harry stopped himself, _'Why am I looking at her eyes all of a sudden?'_

"Harry?" Chris tapped Harry on the shoulder.

"Order forms!" Harry blurted out, "I was uh looking at the order forms." He was aware that the room was looking at him, and an indiscernible blush filled his cheeks.

The bell rang indicating that someone had just entered the shop. The room fell into an uneasy silence as their eyes beheld a peaky faced, white-blonde boy.

"Malfoy," Harry growled, as he did every time his arch enemy came into sight.

"Just browsing, Potter," Malfoy spat, "I just wanted to see how badly the joke shop was doing…or if you'd actually made any money…well that considered I suppose a knut would be considered making money in your case."

"Hi Malfoy!" Jen said, cheerfully, jumping from the desk and giving the Slytherin a hug, "Long time no see." The Weasley's all looked on, indifferently but still irritated by the usual Malfoy comments. Harry wondered whether he was the only one who felt angry that Jen had embraced the blonde boy. Fred and George had rolled their eyes and had turned their attention to the order forms, choosing to ignore the Slytherin. Hermione was glaring at both of them, but she glared at Jen anyway, so Harry failed to see any change. Ron however, was seemingly as angry as Harry, but he chose to ignore them.

Harry's eyes narrowed as Malfoy smiled, innocently, returning the embrace somewhat, but before he could close his arms around her Jen had pulled away.

"How are you, dear?" she asked. Malfoy and Jen engaged in deep conversation while the rest of the group diverted their attention to more menial things. Harry however; found himself rigid with anger as Jen and Malfoy laughing and talking with each other. Malfoy's eyes caught Harry's and a look of glee spread across his peaky face. Harry's fists clenched,

'_Why am I acting like this_?' Harry growled…then it hit him, _'wasn't this the way I acted when Cho danced with Cedric?_' Harry paused for a moment, '_I'm jealous? I'm jealous of Malfoy…Oh no, I like Jen…worse than that Malfoy knows I like Jen! Actually…what's so bad about me liking Jen? She's great…she's funny and she's quite pretty…actually she's more than pretty…she's gorgeous, she's…what are they doing now!'_

"So I'll see you around, Draco darling," Jen smiled, trying to back away from Malfoy. Malfoy smiled, but kept his sneering eyes on Harry,

"Yes, I'll see you soon Jen…" keeping eye contact with Harry, he leaned in and pressed his lips to her cheek, before turning to leave. Jen turned away and Harry could see the look of disgust left on her face.

'_You bast_-' Harry pulled Malfoy back as he reached the door, and swung his fist across his face. Malfoy crumpled to the ground, his nose bleeding from the contact. Malfoy stumbled as he tried to stand up, by now Lee had moved forward to restrain Harry, though little effort was needed.

"You'll pay for that, Potter," Malfoy spat, opening the door and falling out of it.

The shop had sunk into a kind of shocked…somewhat revered silence, with all eyes resting on Harry. Chris let go of Harry and placed his hand on Jen's shoulder, comfortingly,

"You ok?"

"Ugh!" she muttered, harshly wiping away at her cheek, "That wasn't in the job description," she muttered. Chris chuckled and embraced her warmly.

'_Oh…she's with Chris_,' Harry's crestfallen thoughts hit him, but they were rudely interrupted by Jen's wrath.

"What the bloody hell do you think you were doing!" Jen screamed.

"I…uh…I…" Harry stammered.

"I would have loved to have hit him! I would like nothing more than to smack that arrogant mouth of his…but I can't and neither can you for that matter!" she yelled.

"Huh?" Harry asked, nonplussed.

"For the first person in years to have had an outstanding plus, you're rather slow aren't you? Draco equals Lucius Malfoy's son. Lucius Malfoy equals Death Eater. _Important_ Death Eater for that matter. Malfoy is in Voldermort's inner circle, in short Potter, you just pissed off a Death Eater."

From the expression on Harry's face it was clear that he still didn't understand fully, Jen groaned loudly and tried again,

"We want to find out what Voldemort is planning, if we can get near Lucius Malfoy it might pay off…get to the father through the son?" She suggested, Harry looked a little enlightened,

"The father through the son?" he asked.

"Get it?" she asked. Harry nodded, Jen sighed in relief, "You are such a fool…why did you hit him anyway?" she asked, as an after thought.

Harry blushed again and looked away, stammering as he tried to think of an excuse. Thankfully he didn't have to answer, Fred and George did it for him,

"It's Harry and Draco, Jen," Fred smiled, "Hitting each other is what they do."

"Right, Harry?" George asked with a wink.

"Uh yeah," Harry muttered, "whatever."

"Wow…I'm glad I don't have to put up with you two in Hogwarts together," Jen muttered, "I can't imagine you two in actual lessons with each other…actually…on reflection," Jen smiled at Harry, "I think it would be worth going to Hogwarts just to smack him one whenever I saw him."

"Well you'll have plenty of chances when you do go to Hogwarts," Hermione said, bluntly. Jen looked up, quickly,

"I don't go to Hogwarts," Jen said, seriously, "I never would go to Hogwarts, I'd hate it."

"But Dumbledore…ow Ron!" Ron had stamped rather harshly on Hermione's foot. Jen froze and looked at Chris,

"Dumbledore? He's sending me to…?"

"Uh…yeah?" Chris muttered. Jen clenched her fist and gave a frustrated cry.

Harry didn't quite see what happened next, all he knew was that a large fire erupted in the centre of the shop, Chris pulled Harry back, away from it…when the flames had cleared Jen had gone.

"What the hell!" Ron screamed.

"It's so cool when she does that," Fred muttered enviously.

" I know," agreed George. " The rebels way to apparate".

"Yeah…" Chris muttered, "and if we hurry we can beat her to the car." Pulling the group out, he, Harry, Ron and Hermione all bolted up Diagon Alley to the car park, just in time to see Jen pulling out at a dangerous speed, the sound of Pink Floyd's 'Another Brick in the Wall' echoing at ear splitting volume around them.

"Bugger…" Chris muttered, watching the car speed off. "So?" he said, cheerfully, "anyone got money for the bus?"

TBC


	6. The Trouble With Teenagers

Chapter 6 – The Trouble with Teenagers

After the final shopping in Diagon Alley, it hardly took any time at all as Chris wanted to hurry back to Grimmauld Place to check on Jen. They had to use normal transport, they couldn't risk the Knight Bus taking them to the headquarters, lest someone tried to trace them.

The muggle bus dropped them off a few streets away from Grimmauld Place, though the walk took them no time at all. Hurrying around the corner, the small group looked at the space between the houses and when it appeared, they hurried through the door.

The door slammed shut behind them and the first thing to hit them was the heat. The flaming torches that were lit all through the house seemed to be going overtime, large flames were blazing, the heat that filled the house was intense.

The second thing to hit them was the screaming and the shouting. The kitchen door had been left open a space and through it they could see Jen shouting at Dumbledore. He had taken a seat at the table and was looking at her with the usual calm demeanour he always did. Lupin was also present, he was sitting the other side of the table, edging away somewhat, looking as if he would like nothing more than to run away. Chris slipped into the room, cautiously. They all waited for whether Jen or Dumbledore to protest and ask them politely to leave, but no such request came.

Harry and Ron followed him in, though Hermione retreated to her room, no doubt to memorize the books she had just purchased. Chris, Harry and Ron took their places beside Lupin, but soon realized why he didn't want to be there. It was quite something to watch the teenage girl let loose at her grandfather who just sat there taking all the abuse she threw at him, his calm, benevolent expression never faulting.

'_Wow…she's got courage_,' Harry thought, then he remembered how at the end of the previous year Harry himself had let loose at the headmaster at the loss of Sirius. '_Sirius_…' he broke off, his stomach lurching.

"I am not going to Hogwarts!" she screamed. She stopped ranting and for a moment Harry thought she was about to collapse. She stood still, panting heavily her anger apparently vented.

"Harry would you excuse us?" Dumbledore muttered, quietly, turning to Harry.

"No! Let him stay! Why send him out of the room every time we're about to talk about him!" Jen cried, "Besides, he's the one who's wrecking my life!"

"I am not wrecking your life!" Harry shouted back, aghast.

"Ever since I had to pick you up…" she snarled, before trailing off to mutter inarticulate curses under her breath, "I have to cancel my plans to take him to Diagon Alley, I have to drop out of school just to bring him here, I have to be subjected to his arrogant, stuck up bitch of a friend and now I have to babysit _him_!" she shrieked, her anger rising once again. Harry felt an indiscernible feeling rise up inside him, '_Well…she hates me_,' he thought bitterly.

"Jennifer Miranda!" Dumbledore called, his voice rising over hers. She looked down at him, the sound of her full name apparently disgusted her, but it silenced her nonetheless.

"Harry," he said, turning to the boy, ignoring Jen for the moment. "We have always strived to protect you from Voldemort…"

"Maybe he doesn't need protecting!" Jen snapped.

Harry felt his heart rise, '_Now she likes me_?'

"After all would any of us truly miss him if he died?"

'_Ah_,' Harry shook his head, '_Maybe not._'

"Jennifer," Dumbledore muttered again and again she fell into a haughty silence. Once more Dumbledore turned to Harry, "Though somehow or other…we always overlook something and you end up in harms way. I am not prepared to let that happen again. We cannot assign a teacher to protect you, instead I am sending Jen to Hogwarts…"

"I told you I'm not bloody going!" Jen cut across.

Ignoring her, Dumbledore continued, "as a student. She can blend in, protect you, _learn things_."

"Malfoy?" Ron muttered. Dumbledore nodded,

"Yes…needless to say, Jen's relationship with Draco Malfoy could prove highly useful…and of course if Draco chooses to follow his father's footsteps…"

"He already has," another interruption came, this time from Lupin and Lee. This time Dumbledore didn't ignore this one,

"Now now, that's only a rumour. We must grant Draco the benefit of the doubt after all one is innocent until proven guilty."

"Oh come on," Lupin protested, "You've seen the signs, just like Snape…" he cut off as the candle beside him exploded. All eyes fell on Jen who was glaring at Lupin for some unknown reason.

"Can someone listen to me?" Jen cried, and the desperation in her voice made Harry look up in surprise. "I don't want to go," she pleaded, "It's Hogwarts, you know how I feel about it! I can't go! Not with…_him_ there!" Harry looked away again, embarrassed. "I can't…" she muttered, breaking off.

"I know it will be hard for you, I know how you feel…"

"Why does everyone say that!" Jen cried, interrupting Dumbledore, "You haven't got a clue how I feel, you haven't got a bloody clue. How could you possibly understand how I feel!" Her voice faltered and Chris moved forward to embrace her, for a moment, Harry genuinely thought she was about to burst into tears. She shook Chris off and turned to Dumbledore,

"besides I'm a sorceress not a witch, there is a difference!"

"You are half witch," Lupin said, "You can perform the spells better than anyone," he laughed, "The sorceress thing is hardly a decent excuse." Jen glared at him, lips pursed.

"I don't like performing magic, there is a reason why I went to a muggle school! I want a normal life! How is that ever going to happen at that place! And lest we forget I don't like performing magic."

"Bouncers…the bouncers at that club in Newcastle," Lupin muttered, "The girl at the concert in Manchester, that time Orlando Bloom wouldn't give you an autograph, the time the guy refused to serve you…"

"Oh I get the picture, but all those times were when I was angry." As if to christen her statement, the flames within the room burned fiercely and went out. "I can't," Jen sighed, defeated, finally dropping into a chair, "I just can't."

"Please Jen?" Dumbledroe asked tentatively but something in his voice made the decision that jen would have to go toHogwarts. , "Think of the lives you'd be saving, not just Harry's think of them all. Maybe this is a time to reconcile yourself with the past, forgive and forget so to speak,"

"Forget!" Jen snapped, but Dumbledore continued,

"and if that doesn't persuade you think of all the times you can get one over on Malfoy while pretending to be totally innocent."

A smile spread across her face, "I do like the bitchiness," she admitted, "But not enough to go to that place."

"The most important factor has been overlooked," Chris muttered, "You don't have a choice."

Jen glared at him, "Alright, I have conditions. Condition One I do not sleep in dorms. Condition 2 I am taking Pyro. Condition 3 **_No potions_**! Condition 4 I do not do homework. Condition 5 I reserve the right to burn anyone who gets on my nerves. Condition 6 I do not do uniform."

"Sleeping in dorms, uniform and potions are unavoidable. Of course you can take Pyro, homework you can avoid if you want to fail, as for the burning, Madame Pomfrey will take care of that. Anything else?"

"Condition 7 I am taking the bike." Before Dumbledore could protests against this, she had already left.

"Lupin, Chris - make sure she gets on that train."

TBC


	7. SUmmer of '69

Chapter 7 – Summer of 69

Harry sat at the table in the dining room, lapping up the atmosphere of total calm. It was the night before Hogwarts. The fire was roaring making the room warm and sleepy; Hermione was reading beside the fire, one hand was absent-mindedly stroking Crookshanks who was stretched out beside her. Ron was admiring the Chudley Cannons annual that his mother had bought him to congratulate her son for such wonderful results. Lupin was pouring his attention into a document of some sort and Chris and Harry were lounging about, beside each other.

"Jen's been chirpier than usual," Harry muttered to Chris, his head lolling back in the chair.

"I wouldn't say chirpier," Lee frowned, "She still doesn't want to go to Hogwarts, but she's kind of come round to the idea…but whether she accepts it or not she's still going to be a hellraiser." Harry chuckled, Chris paused to think for a moment, "But don't think you can join in her mischief, I'll be there to keep an eye on you."

"What?" Harry and Ron looked up at him. Lupin muttered from the table,

"Chris is your new Defence Against the Dark Arts tutor."

"You are?" Harry asked. Chris nodded, modestly,

"Yeah…that's probably why Jen lightened up about the whole Hogwarts thing, the fact that I'll be there too…"

"Where is Jen, anyway?" Lupin asked, looking up from his work.

"I'm guessing in her room," Chris answered, "she's probably packing."

"Hmm…" Lupin thought for a moment, "She hasn't had anything to eat tonight…would someone go up to see her?"

"I'll go," Harry said, jumping in before Chris could go up. Harry left the room, trying to understand why he had been so jealous of Chris when it developed that he was the reason Jen was so happy about going to Hogwarts.

Harry climbed the staircase. He had never been up to Jen's room; he knew vaguely where it was. And when he reached it he was in no doubt that he had found it.

Hermione's room was beside it, the door a plain, finished mahogany. The door beside it was laden with posters of Muggle rock bands, Harry recognised from the snippets of Muggle television that he had managed to catch at the Dursleys'. There were pictures of the tv show, 'Buffy' and mixed in were smaller posters of Aragorn and Boromir from 'Lord of the Rings.' From the other side of the door, Harry could hear the music pounding through.

'Standing on your mother's porch, you told me you would wait forever…' Mixed in with the sound of Bryan Adams, he could hear Jen singing.

He was about to tap lightly when he saw a note scrawled across the space above the door handle, in red marker, 'HA HA HERMONANNOYINGLY!' Harry chuckled at the play on his friend's name and then took note of the laminated certificate above the door handle,

'_Awarding Jennifer Miranda…_' her surname had been scratched off, for some reason. _'the GCSE grades of…_

_History: A (star)_

_Religious Studies: A (star)_

_Biology/Chemistry/Physics: A (star)/s_

_Art: A (star)_

_Music: A (star)_

_English Language/Literature: A (star)/s_

_Classics (Latin/Greek language and literature): A (star)_

_Mathematics: A'_

Harry looked at the grades in a mixture of awe and disbelief, then understood why she had chosen to rub Hermione's face in them. He doubted even Hermione could become fluent in Latin and Greek in just a two year course. Then there were the science grades with three A (stars), in fact it was all impressive, her only slight failing being mathematics, though Jen had muttered before how she hated basic addition and subtraction…in fact maths in general. Her profile was nothing short of spectacular and it was only the change of song within that snapped Harry out of his little world.

Harry listened to Jen singing for a moment, he had to admit she was a very good singer with a powerful voice. He was getting lost in the song when it stopped rather abruptly and the room was filled with low muttering. One voice was Jen's the other was a low, male voice that sounded vaguely familiar.

Jen's voice grew louder and more and more frustrated. Harry leaned against the door,

"Just get out of my life!" Jen shouted. Harry's heart soared, the voice that responded sounded like Chris'. '_Is it over_?' he thought, then a loud laugh caused him to look down, Chris was still in the dining room, eating with the others, '_Dammit…who is it then_?'

"Why don't you just leave me alone?" Jen murmured, somewhat quieter than the yelling, but still audible. There was a loud bang within and Harry thought this the opportune moment to enter the room.

Jen was standing at the fireplace, green flames were roaring wildly within and Harry caught a glimpse of black hair disappearing into the fire. She spun around when she heard the door open, "What?" she yelled, then immediately softened, a smile breaking across her face, "Oh, hi Harry."

She gestured for Harry to sit, which he did, cautiously upon the end of the bed, looking around the room. It seemed like an odd combination, a cross between a boudoir and a mosh pit. The walls were an elegant pink, with silks draping around the room, silver Feng Shui symbols lined the upper walls with a faint smell of incense or scented candles lingering in the air. Over the elegance of the walls were black metal posters mixed in with the classics, Queen and Guns 'N' Roses.

"What do you think?" Jen asked, taking a seat on a plush armchair. Harry studied the posers,

"It's great," he said, grinning sheepishly, then he paused at one of the posters, "Hmm, A Hundred Reasons?" he asked, looking at the nearest posters.

"Yeah, I never liked them much either," Jen smiled, throwing a fireball at the poster and laughing in a falsely maniacally way as it burned.

The poster burning so close to him and the subtly psychotic gleam in Jen's eyes forced Harry to throw himself from the bed.

"Oh Harry, please, it's only a little fireball," Jen said, glamorously.

"How do you do that?" Harry exclaimed, watching the poster's remnants burn into nothingness. Jen smiled and almost winked at him,

"Oh, that's nothing," she smirked, rising she held out both hands before her and allowed a fireball to appear floating slightly above both, merging into one then separating then manipulated into different shapes as it moved above her hands. "And Ka Boom," Jen smiled, watching the fire explode in her hands sending glowing embers floating to the ground.

Harry lowered himself to the bed, once more slightly wary when Jen sat beside him. "I'm a sorceress," Jen told him, her voice taking a serious tone for a moment. "Well…half a sorceress, my mother was one, my father was _not_," she said, a tone of hatred creeping into her words, "anyway, my mother was a sorceress, you know a woman who could perform magic naturally, or control the elements or something. You get bad ones and good ones, the bad ones are usually in that book," she said, casting a hand over to the book she had bought in Diagon Alley, "Unfortunately for me, my mother was one of the nicest sorceresses around so I had to be good too…meaning I can never be selfish or use my power for selfish gain, but I'm sure they'll excuse me if I use them for world domination mwah ha ha ha."

Harry laughed with her and then they sank into an easy silence. "So where is your mother now?" he asked.

"Dead," Jen said, bluntly. Harry looked at her, regretting his words, "I was a baby, Voldemort took to killing her personally just to get at granddad…amongst other reasons. So she tried to save me, she could manipulate ice so she froze the door and the front of the house, but it didn't matter, he got in and killed her. Probably would have killed me too, but Granddad turned up and went a little mad at the sight of seeing his daughter dead and threw everything he had at Voldemort until he buggered off and went to kill your parents…funny old world isn't it?" Harry was struck dumb in silence, staring at her amazed at the similarities between them both.

"And your father?" Harry asked.

"Let us not speak of such evil people," she said, "I don't get on with my father…in fact I don't get on with him _at all_." She shook it off and turned to Harry, who had returned to looking around the room, his heart stopped when he saw a photo of Sirius and Jen on the wall. Jen followed his gaze to the wall and stopped when she saw the picture, "Oh," she muttered, rising and picking the picture from the wall returning to her place with it. She held it between herself and Harry and they both looked down at it, Harry with an expression of pained sadness and Jen with a fond affectionate gaze.

"It was taken just last year," she smiled. Stroking the edge of the picture, "I miss him," she murmured. Harry nodded and looked over at her, feeling the same way as she did, she looked back at him and they made eye contact, understanding blazed in that brief moment as they realised how much they had in common and she smiled back at him, nervously.

Feeling bold, Harry opened his mouth to speak, "Jen, I…"

"I wonder if Chris will take me in the car…I really don't want to go on that train," Jen breathed, obviously not hearing Harry's mutters. Harry turned away, somewhat bitterly,

"You and Chris are pretty close, huh?"

"Well duh," Jen laughed, returning the picture of Sirius to the wall, "He's always been there for me, he's helped me through everything…" she chuckled to herself, "he says I've never be rid of him and however much I protest or make fun of it," she turned back to Harry with a wide grin, "I'd never want to be rid of him, he's the best."

Harry forced himself to look away as Jen laughed, "Oh my God, Harry you made me go all girly!" she sat down on the bed and the easy silence crept over them again, "Harry, I…" she began,

"Hey Potter!" a voice yelled from downstairs. Jen swept over to the door and swung it open,

"He's with me!" she bellowed, down to Chris, who had left the dining room and gone looking for the pair.

"Oh," Chris muttered, "Well, I did ask Potter to call you for dinner, but it's too late now. Are you ready? We better go!"

Jen turned back to look at Harry, she smiled at him, "We're going out, a new band – meant to be really good," she said, then she said quickly and with a hint of nervousnes, "d'you wanna come?"

"I don't think-"

"Please? It'll be fun!" Jen said, interrupting him, "Even if it not your thing, you know me and you can find something to do, what do you say Harry?"

"Come on Jen! We wanna beat the traffic!" Chris called from below and Harry heard the front door opening,

"No," Harry said, almost resentfully as he rose and passed her, "Three's a crowd."

"What?" Jen called after him, clearly not buying his argument, clearly hurt by his easy dismissal of her.

"Jen!" Chris shouted again.

"Alright!" Jen snapped, rushing past Harry, then at the bottom of the stairs she turned back to look up, "Hey Potter! Tell Ron that the Potions thing is sorted, Snape expects him in his class first day back but he better pass this year!"

Harry looked after her, wanting to ask her about it but she had already left the house with Chris.

Kicking the wall, Harry walked down, '_Dammit_,' he groaned, hearing Jen and Chris riding off. He went back into Jen's room and turned off the stereo as it blared out more Bryan Adams. He took his time leaving, noting the posters again and painfully seeing the pictures of Sirius. He moved in for a closer look and found a much older one, with Sirius and his father dressed up in hippy style clothes. He couldn't help but laugh as he returned it and started humming 'Summer of 69' just as Jen had been.

He left the room and started down the stair, '_Standing on your momma's porch, you told me you'd wait forever. Oh and when I held her hand_,' he slowed in his singing_, 'I knew that…it…was…now or…never…Dammit, I gotta tell her how I feel,_'

Harry paused as he got closer to his and Ron's door, he could hear shouting coming from within,

"Come on Hermione, don't be like this," Ron whined.

"Don't be like what! You're the one being unreasonable!"

"I'm not being unreasonable, I just think…"

Harry put his hand on the handle just as he heard a clap resonating from within. He paused, but before he could open the door, it was opened for him and Hermione stormed past him.

"Hi Harry," she said, surprised, "I better go to bed," she said, hastily when Harry opened his mouth to question her. She ran off before he could ask her anything, so he turned and went inside instead.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked Ron, "What was that clapping noise?"

"Oh…I…uh…stubbed my toe," Ron muttered, massaging his toe, revealing a red mark appearing on his cheek, "Hermione and I had a disagreement."

"About what?" Harry asked. Ron looked up surprised,

"Uh…you know?…the usual…?" Ron looked down at the bed, "We better go to sleep, yeah? I mean we gotta be up early for the train."

"Uh yeah," Harry frowned, unimpressed by the sudden change of subject, but not particularly bothered that they were keeping something from him, he'd find out eventually, he always did.

"Jen wanted me to tell you she got you into Potions."

"Oh, great!" Ron said, surprised but falsely happy, as he lay down on the bed. "How are things between you?"

"I love her," Harry sighed into his pillow.

"Huh?" Ron asked.

"Never mind," Harry muttered.

"I think she likes you, you know," Ron admitted, sparking Harry's attention, "Well, more than she lets on, at least. She's been asking about you a lot…what do you think about her?" Ron asked.

'_I love her, I love her, I love her_,' his thoughts screamed at him.

"Oh…I think she's cool," Harry shrugged, '_I love her I love her I love her_.'

Ron shrugged and lay down, "That's cool," he sighed, slightly preoccupied. Harry shrugged it off and lay back down, he would need to get to sleep for the trip to Hogwarts the following day. As he drifted, his thoughts weren't just with Jen but with Sirius also, and the time they had spent together, but far from upset, Harry could remember it with a smile for the first time since Sirius died, he was happy, lost in nostalgia.

'_oh and when I look back now, that summer seemed to last forever, oh and if I had the chance, I would wanna be there, those were the best days of my life.'_

TBC


	8. Warning Signs

Chapter 8 – Warning signs

"NO!" a shrill scream echoed through the house, "NO! YOU INHUMANE MONSTERS!" Harry and Ron leapt from bed, wands ready to fight before they realised they were still in Grimmauld Place and the shouting was coming from below.

"NO!" the voice came again.

"Jen?" Harry murmured, recognising her futile scream. The boys ran out onto the landing to see Dumbledore, Jen and Lee were in the hall, Jen had thrown herself around Chris' legs, a wall of fire blocked the door, "No! You can't!" she shouted.

"Chris," Dumbledore said sternly, "Put the bike in the garage."

"No!" Jen moaned again, tugging Chris back away from the door.

"Jen," Dumbledore said, calmly, "You cannot win, you will not ride the bike to Hogwarts." With a wave of his wand, the fire turned to ice and shattered, sending sparkling crystals across the floor. Jen allowed Chris to move again as she rose, with an air of ferocity that would have sent most men cowering. For a moment, Harry thought she was going to explode and probably blast the hall with flames in the process. But to the surprise of all, she smiled, her eyes narrowed to slits,

"Ok, fine," she said, slyly, "But be warned, without my bike I will be unable to attend vital Order business and you know what that means, don't you?" she sneered. Dumbledore raised an eyebrow, but beneath his beard Harry could tell he was amused, "Without my bike I will be unable to prevent Voldemort from rising. The Dark Lord will rise and destroy the world and that will rest on your conscience. You will sleep with the knowledge that if you hadn't stopped me from taking my bike the world would still be at peace."

"A little over dramatic," Dumbledore chuckled, "But I see your point, Chris take the bike."

"No!" Jen protested, "I wanna ride the bike! It's my bike!"

"I won't scratch the paintwork," Chris smiled.

"You scratch you die," she snarled. Chris raised his eyebrow,

"You crashed my car," he cried, but Jen was already laughing,

"Hey! I'm an irresponsible teenager, what's your excuse?" Chris opened his mouth to speak, but broke off unable to think if an answer. He was saved by the entrance of Moody and Lupin,

"The cars are here," Moody announced. Harry and Ron exchanged frantic glances and bolted back into the room to change.

Halfway through changing Harry heard the door open and Jen poked her head round the door, "Hey you guys ready yet?" she paused when she saw that Harry was hardly dressed, Ron had luckily pulled some trousers on before she could glimpse anything. "Guess not," she muttered, then laughing, "Nice ass Harry."

Harry turned a bright shade of scarlet but continued to change and within minutes everyone was assembled in the hall ready to go. Harry fell into line, they all stood looking at the door, as if they were ready for an army drill. Moody hobbled up and down the line shouting, 'Constant Vigilance!' to keep them all straight backed.

Jen strolled into the hall, pulling behind her a pink carry-along suitcase, designer sunglasses and a phoenix perched upon her shoulder. She was humming the theme tune to 'The Great Escape' which was oddly coincidental to the scene before her.

She saluted at Moody as she approached, "Sir!" she barked.

Moody smiled on her affectionately, "Nice to see manners aren't completely wasted on the youth of today."

Jen smiled and nodded, "Well, actually it was an ironic insult but whatever," she shrugged the last part off and stood away from the line, leaning slightly on her case. Hermione held a finger out to the bird, "Wow, it's so pretty," she said, admiringly. "What is it's name?"

"_His_ name is Pyro, not _it_!" Jen snarled at Hermione. Hermione smiled apologetically and held her finger out to stroke him.

"Ow!" Hermione shrieked, "He bit me!" Hermione withdrew her finger, sharply. There was a significantly deep cut near her nail which was bleeding, surprisingly profusely.

"Naughty Pyro!" Jen smiled soppingly, "You're supposed to bite harder than that," she narrowed her eyes, "and you damn well know it." Pyro nestled his head in the crook of her neck apologetically while Ron and Harry stifled a giggle. Pyro jumped over onto Harry's shoulder and rested there. Harry looked up at Jen who just smiled back, encouragingly.

"Settle down," Moody encouraged, "settle down." Hermione cradled her finger shooting daggers at Jen and throwing some daring glances at Harry and Ron for not defending her.

Moody launched into an explanation of how they should conduct themselves at the train station, how they should be on the lookout for the enemy at all times, 'Constant Vigilance' and many other items that nobody was really paying attention to. Harry was too busy staring at Chris, who had just moved next to Jen and to add insult to injury Pyro had swooped over and landed on the older man's shoulder.

"Jen!" Moody shouted. Jen looked up to find Moody hobbling towards her, "What did I just say?" Jen looked around as if searching the room for answers.

"Constant Vigilance!" she snapped in true Moody style. Moody glared at her,

"No…but you're right, Constant Vigilance!...Now, are we all ready?" Everyone nodded in unison, "Good, Jen, lose the bird."

Jen looked at Pyro, "Pyro," she said slowly, the phoenix looked up at her with an expression between shock and sadness, "Go with Chris," Jen instructed, "You have a very important task, you must at all costs, protect the bike. If Chris scratches the paintwork you know what you must do," she narrowed her eyes as she turned to face Chris. They both laughed,

"What, he gonna gouge my eyes out?" Chris joked, but stopped laughing when he realised Jen was looking at him sincerely.

Smiling she said, "Basically." Chris froze and watched as Jen left the entrance hall laughing. She turned around and clicked her fingers, "Harry, Ron, luggage," she pointed forward and led them out. Ron and Harry exchanged glances of distaste, but inevitably Harry picked up Jen's carry-case and followed her out like her pet, much to the disgust of Hermione.

"Ron, could you give me a hand?" Hermione asked, trying to pull her case to the door. Ron looked over at her, and picking up Jen's rucksack shook his head,

"Sorry, Hermione, she can burn me…you can't."

Harry pushed the case into the boot, said his goodbyes to Lupin and company before slipping into the car and resting his head against the window. He could see Jen talking to Chris outside of the car, she wrapped her arms around him and gave him a comforting hug.

"Now, I'll see you at Hogwarts and remember, when we are there you must treat me in the same way you treat everyone else, that means you do not call me Jenny…in fact don't ever call me Jenny again…or Jennifer for that matter…or J J…"

"I get the idea," Chris grinned.

Jen ignored him and continued, "People will get suspicious that you and I are more than just pupil teacher whatever." Chris waved a hand dismissively and Harry felt his stomach drop at Jen's last words. "Now, remember treat me the same but I do not do homework, I do not do study and I do not do…well you know what I do not do."

"Yeah now will you get into the car, already I think Harry's starting to miss you," Jen laughed and kissing Chris on the cheek slipped into the car, sliding over Harry's lap as she did so. Harry turned a bright tinge of red that would make Ron's hair jealous. Jen noticed but said nothing, leaving Harry with an affectionate smile as she turned to the window to watch the world go by.

The company arrived at King's Cross. Jen strutted ahead, receiving many an admiring gaze from many passing adolescents, filling Harry with a raging jealousy which Jen did nothing to ease when she winked at the desperate teenagers. Hermione was also glaring at Jen and in a pathetic attempt to match her popularity flicked her hair out…which resulted in the walking into a pole, causing ructions within the group as well as from passers by.

Chris had gone ahead on the bike, Moody had been left by the cars under Lupin's suspiscion that he might draw too much attention to them on the platform. Lupin led them to the barrier to Platform 9 ¾ but stopped abruptly. A train to Milford Haven (calling at Llanelli) had pulled up drawing up a large crowd to the platform as they fought for seats.

"How are we going to get on with all these people here?" Ron muttered, as he was forcibly pushed aside by a group of college girls gibbering to each other in a different language. One of the girls laughed and smiled at Ron ,"ti'n cael phenwl ciwt," she giggled causing her friends do burst into peals of laughter.

Ron shrugged and smiled back at her, drawing daggers from Hermione. Lupin however was more concerned with getting the large group onto the train without alerting the muggles around them to their presence.

"What we need…" Lupin began only to be interrupted by an over enthusiastic Jen,

"Is a diversion!" she announced. Lupin reached out to grab her,

"Wait! I know what your diversions entail!" he began but Jen had already screamed, drawing the attention of everyone on the platform as well as her own friends.

"Oh my GOD!" she shrieked, pointing off into the distance, "Is that Freddy Mercury going at it with Kurt Cobain!" The people around her, including Harry turned to stare in the direction Jen had pointed in. He found himself being dragged back though, as Jen pulled him through the barrier.

"Diversion sorted," she smiled, triumphantly. Lupin rolled his eyes but laughed it off, carting the group towards the train, while Hermione murmured, "Who's Kurt Cobain?" As they walked they saw friends and familiar faces…and some they would rather forget.

Draco Malfoy was saying goodbye to his father beside the train. Lucius Malfoy's hand rested on his son's arm while Draco looked up with wide eyes as if he were receiving words of great wisdom. His eyes narrowed when he saw Harry and his entourage pass. Harry glared back at Malfoy senior, who had managed to influence or buy his way out of a prison sentence.

"I'll see you at Christmas, father," Draco said, picking his bag up and turning to the train.

"Oh you'll be seeing me much sooner than that Draco," Lucius' eyes flickered over into Harry's direction who returned the look with equal ferocity, "Much sooner."

Harry watched Lucius sweep away leaving his son to give Harry glares in his place. Looking around he realised that the company had already moved on without him and were now putting their luggage onto the train, with the exception of Jen who, previously standing by Harry now walked over to Malfoy and engaged him in conversation.

Harry's jealousy soared as Jen laughed loudly at something Malfoy had said and together they boarded the train, without so much as a backward glance at Harry.

"When you're ready, Harry!" Lupin shouted over the noise as more and more students flocked towards the train. Harry lugged his trunk over to Lupin who with a wave of his wand loaded it onto the train.

"Take care of yourself Harry," Lupin said, softly squeezing Harry's shoulder encouragingly.

"Come on Harry!" Ron and Hermione called, hanging out of the window of the compartment they had claimed. With one last smile at Lupin, Harry jumped onto the train and sought out his friends.

"So Harry," Ron said, cheerfully when they had all got comfortable and were settled as the train departed, "Heard any strange voices lately? Had any creepy visions? Metamorphosed into Voldemort's snake? Dumbledore warned you about anything life threatening?"

"Shut up Ron!" Harry snapped, realising with some dread that Ron was right, every time they got on the train they would usually discuss Harry's imminent death. Putting these thoughts aside, Harry laughed with his friend.

"But seriously, everyone will be worried," Hermione said, looking up from the book she was reading, "Voldemort hasn't been seen in months! I mean now that Fudge has finally…"

Jen slipped into the compartment and made a snoring noise as Hermione spoke about the Dark Lord and the element of hysteria the wizarding world was in since his return.

"Please Hermione, can this be one of the few occasions you don't bore us to death with your alleged superior knowledge." Hermione glared at Jen but was silent.

"Hey is that the Daily Prophet?" Ron asked, changing the subject, noticing the paper in Jen's hands. Jen nodded and handed it out to the redhead,

"You can read it, I'm done."

"Anything about Voldemort?" Harry asked, almost desperately as his friend flicked through the paper. Ron shook his head,

"Little article here, 'How to spot a Death Eater,'"

"As if the black cloak, the raspy threatening voice and the dark mark on the forearm wasn't enough, the typical Death Eater always wears stilettos," Jen joked, causing laughs to break out among the group, but not from Hermione,

"What kind of Death Eater wears stilettos?" she asked, unimpressed.

"Well there's this one guy, his name's Malfoy," Jen said, loudly, "He's the type to wear stilettos!" Harry's eyes flickered to the door where he could see Malfoy pass them by. Jen laughed,

"There's a silencing spell on the door," Jen said, watching the colour rush out of Harry and Ron's face with amusement, "He can't hear us. Anyway, back to the paper."

"OH!" Ron shouted, making violent gestures to the paper.

"What what?" came the shrieks from the compartment.

"Voldemort's been sighted!" Hermione cried, but Harry had much darker thoughts on his mind,

"Voldemort's killed again?"

"Kurt Cobain and Freddy Mercury really _were _making out in King's Cross?" Jen squealed excitedly.

"No," Ron stuttered, "Uh…just this," he showed them the article.

'_**Memorial Plaque unveiled…at last!**_

_A memorial plaque commemorating the life of Miranda Snape has finally been unveiled at St Mungo's hospital. The beloved healer and mother was brutally murdered by Voldemort exactly fifteen years ago today. Many patients of Mrs Snape have been lodging complaints, demanding for some recognition of the woman who gave up her life to save others. Their pleas have at last been heard and the plaque was unveiled in a ceremony earlier on this morning. A representative of St Mungo's had this to say, 'Miranda was a wonderful woman and an even better healer. She is sorely missed even today so long after the tragic event. We are so pleased to have some reminder of her here at the place where she devoted much of her time even when it was unnecessary. As well as a celebration to her life the plaque inspires hope to patients as well as to remind healers of their duty towards patients.' Miranda's husband, Professor Severus Snape, potions master at Hogwarts School was present to unveil the memorial. Hospital workers had hoped Snape's daughter would attend, but she was unavailable, however a Daily Prophet reporter did find her for comment and she had this to say, 'Like I have the (bleep) time to speak to a (bleeping) reporter (bleep) off!'_

The group exchanged silent glances, stunned into shock, "She was my mother's best friend," Ron said, "I never knew her but mum has always said she deserved some kind of recognition for all her work. Never knew she was married to Snape though!" he said in a mixture of shock and disgust. Harry was drawn to the picture of Miranda Snape that smiled back at him from the paper. She was eerily beautiful and looked somewhat familiar to Harry but he couldn't remember where. Maybe he had seen her before in Snape's office or something?

"Oh my God!" Harry shouted, suddenly, "She was married to Snape!" Harry and Ron exchanged shocked words at how a woman that beautiful could love a man that…well it was Snape.

"I myself can't believe the attitude of the daughter. Normally I'd say only a Snape could be that heartless but even Snape went to the unveiling. How could anyone be that callous towards their mother's memory?"

"I'm sure she had her reasons," Jen said, "OH YES!" she shouted, making them all jump, "The trolley's here! I am starved!" she hesitated, "What?" she asked, innocently as the cart lady passed them, "I'm hungry." She ran after her and bought a mass of food to make up for her lack of breakfast. Unfortunately in her eating frenzy caused her to knock a cup of Pumpkin juice over Hermione's lap, Harry being unsure whether this was accidental or not.

Their feast was glorious, but soon disturbed by a rapping at the window. Pyro was outside, tapping the window violently, trying to get in. Jen leaped up, knocking another flask of Pumpkin Juice over Hermione's lap, in her rush to open the window she barely muttered an apology.

"Pyro!" Jen cried, as the phoenix swooped into the compartment. "Pyro, what are you doing here? You never get like this, not unless something's really wrong…I mean catastrophically wrong!"

The group looked up at Jen, worriedly, waiting for the bomb to drop, "Lupin burned my favourite top again, didn't he! I keep telling that man NOT to iron…" Pyro shook his head, "Oh…" Jen paused, "I guess you just missed me then," she pulled Pyro into her arms and cuddled him, sinking back down with him in her arms and purposely missing the patch of Pumpkin Juice where Hermione was sitting.

The train rattled on without any further interruptions. The three friends changed into their robes, Jen refused and instead put her designer sunglasses on.

"It's dark outside," Hermione pointed out to her. Jen lowered the glasses, stylishly down her nose,

"Oh please, you think designers care whether it's dark or not?" Jen said, regally, "Fashion over function, darling, fashion over function."

The train came to a halt and the group scrambled to the window to look out at the platform. It was oddly quiet, there was no Hagrid or otherwise to greet the first years.

"Hmm," Harry murmured, "That's strange, where's Hagrid…and where are the Thestrals? Where are the carriages?"

"Uh guys?" Ron called, "The door won't open, it's locked." Ron continued to pull on the door, but it remained shut tight. Looking through the window in the door, they could see the Ravenclaw's in the opposite compartment were having the same problem.

"What?" Hermione huffed, "The doors can't be locked. All locks are disabled when the train reaches it's destination. It said so in '_Hogwarts: A Histo_…'"

"Will you shut up about that book!" Jen snapped, aggressively, "The world is not governed by what is said in books." Hermione shrank back from Jen as she ran to the window, "This is all wrong!" she cried, "What's happening?"

A shadow flashed past the window, "What the hell was that?" someone in the next compartment screamed.

"Death Eaters!" someone else screamed, sending the train into mass panic.

"Whew," breathed a somewhat relieved Jen, "I thought it was going to be something serious." She whistled for Pyro to land on her shoulder, "Don't panic," she said, gently to the group, disappearing in a whirl of fire. Before the friends could register what had just happened, Jen reappeared, holding out the sunglasses to Harry, "Guard these with your life," she commanded, vanishing again into the flames.

Harry, Ron and Hermione ran to the window. The teachers were there now, as were the Death Eaters. There were flashes of various spells bouncing between the two as well as numerous bursts of flames, which Harry was pleased to see always hit their target, sending Death Eaters screaming as the flames consumed their bodies.

"There's Jen!" Ron called, catching sight of the girl as she threw a number of fireballs at the Death Eater she was fighting. The hem of the cloak caught fire, but he took no notice and shot a flurry of spells at Jen, knocking her back against the station wall.

"Jen!" Harry yelled, watching as the Death Eater advanced. She was far from injured and she looked up defiantly, screaming something and sending more fire with it. Pyro joined in the fray, pecking the Death Eaters that gathered to help the ringleader.

"Wow," Ron gasped, "Look at her go." Jen was back on her feet and sending a relentless fiery assault at the Death Eater.

"Enough!" came a chilling voice, "We have given adequate warning." The Death Eaters looked up at the sky and with no warning vanished into the air. Harry could see Jen falter and collapse against the wall, Professor Snape was first to rush to her, followed keenly by Professor McGonnagoll.

Before the students had time to wonder what had happened, they found themselves mysteriously transported to the Great Hall. A worried mutter broke out among them and the students were on the verge of becoming hysteric. Harry seemed to be the only one more concerned with Jen.

"Students!" a call rang through the hall, silencing the pupils immediately. Dumbledore was standing at the teacher's table, "Please take your seats and begin the feast. You are all safe now, I will make an announcement shortly."

The students filed to their tables, still shivering with fear and excitement. Dumbledore swept through the halls and stopped at Harry, "Come with me, Harry," he said, quietly, looking up at Ron and Hermione, "You may come too."

The three followed Dumbledore to what they had thought to be the hospital wing, expecting to see a withered Jen lying on a fading hospital bed…instead she was in Snape's office screaming and fighting off five professors who were trying to feed her medicine.

With a swift nod, Dumbledore dismissed them, Snape of course would stay, his beady eyes glaring at the Potter boy.

"Jen!" Harry gasped, running over to her side, "Are you ok?"

"Fine," she mumbled, "You haven't got medicine have you?" she asked, suspiciously moving away from him. Harry shook his head, "Good," she said, "You may approach," she gestured for Harry to sit beside her, "Water," she called to Snape, clicking her fingers.

"Good to see the Death Eater attack hasn't done you any serious damage," Hemione growled. Jen laughed,

"Why Harmy, darling you say it as though that were a bad thing!" She flicked a fireball at Hermione which dissolved before it hit her, "I'm sure that's not what you meant."

"Jen," Dumbledore warned. Jen gave a winning smile and drank the water,

"Sorry," she said sweetly, "Anyway, what was with the Death Eaters?"

"They said it was a warning," Hermione gasped, "Will they be back? Are they going to attack Hogwarts."

"Those are our suspicions, yes," Dumbledore said, gravely, "The school governors are pressing to close the school down and this attack is just going to give them more ammunition."

"Why do they want the school to close?" Ron asked, quickly.

"Lucius Malfoy's doing I'm afraid, who knows what his motives are."

"If Malfoy is a death eater and he wants the school to close down, it'll be easier to get at Harry," Hermione suggested, "He could have led the Death Eaters so it would be easier to get Hogwarts closed."

"There are other reasons," Snape murmured, speaking for the first time. Dumbledore gave him a warning glance, but they were interrupted by Chris who burst into the office.

"Jen!" he cried, "Are you ok?" he threw his arms around her, "Did they hurt you?"

"Is the bike ok?" Jen asked, immediately.

Chris laughed and ruffled her hair, "Course," Jen smiled

"Then I'm fine," she returned the embrace, sending Harry into a jealous fit.

"Well, everyone is fine so I suggest we go to the feast," Dumbledore held the door open for them and they went through.

Sitting at the table they were joined by Jen. They polished off the feast which included Dumbledore's speech about why the Death Eaters attacked (as a warning to the minister of magic that not even the children were safe, though Harry was not convinced of the headmaster's sincerity here), they also heard Dumbledore appoint Chris as the new defence against the dark arts teacher which brought swoons and enthusiastic claps from many girls of all ages…Hermione being one.

Finally, after a thoroughly exhausting day, they returned to Gryffindor tower, the new password being Hanabeech, Harry climbed the staircase, trying to think of what Snape had said when he had spoken in the dungeon. He was greeted by his fellow Gryffindors all discussing with excitement the Death Eater attack. He brushed them off and retired. Rolling into bed he heard Dean cry, "That Jen girl is amazing!"

"She sure is," Harry thought.

TBC


End file.
